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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23840392">Nine Lives, No Respite</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Passing_Obsession/pseuds/Passing_Obsession'>Passing_Obsession</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Purrs, F/M, here you go, whats up nerds its ya boy, whoops, wrote this for a looong fic a couple years ago and then never finished it</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 19:15:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,446</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23840392</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Passing_Obsession/pseuds/Passing_Obsession</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“My princess has abandoned her loyal cat,” he lamented, throwing a scathing look at her novel. “For a book.” He threw an arm over his eyes for further drama. </p>
<p>“Your cat needs affection to survive in this cruel, rainy world.” He peeked a single glowing eye from under the crook in his elbow, partially to see her face, and partially for comedic effect. Marinette pushed a breath through her nose, maybe a sigh and maybe a laugh.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir &amp; Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, marichat - Relationship, the first part can be platonic, the second can not</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>161</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>What's up [rolls in only heeleys after posting nothing for years]</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was fall in Paris, and that of course entailed the occasional cold, miserable storm. To Marinette’s greatest relief, it was Chat’s turn to patrol today, and she would have no part of the cold or the wet. Living above a bakery meant warmth, and she wasn’t complaining in the slightest,</p><p>Smiling softly, she turned another page of her novel. The best (dorkiest) part was beginning. The female lead had just found out her love’s true identity as a superhero, and -</p><p>“EEP!”</p><p>A loud guffaw rang out in the large room as Marinette recovered her book from where it had fallen on the wood floor under her lounge chair, glaring at Chat all the while. He attempted to smother his boisterous laughter, in no small part for fear of waking her parents, but he was generally unsuccessful (not that it mattered, her parents slept like rocks), as every time he looked back up into Marinette’s pouting face, he dissolved once again into a mass of shaking, giggling black cat.</p><p>“Ah  - I-I’m sorry, Princess,” he tried in between chuckles. “It was just - so - and your face!” he laughed again. </p><p>Marinette pouted even harder, if possible, and with a “Hmph!” and her nose in the air, she continued reading. Chat’s ears drooped, and he crouched beside the chair and rested his chin on the arm, giving his best kitten face.</p><p>“Aw, Mari-” She continued snubbing him.”-I didn’t mean to scare you.” She lifted an eyebrow and turned her whole upper body to stare at him. There was a pause.</p><p>“Okay, fine.” He granted, smiling. “I totally meant to scare you. But I also thought you’d only jump a little.The cat may have made a small miscalculation.”<br/>

Marinette rolled her eyes at him, but he knew it was as much a sign of affection as anything else from the curve at the corner of her lips. She flicked the bell at his throat.</p><p>“What’s the use of this thing if it doesn’t let me know when you’re coming? How did you get in here without my noticing, anyhow?” Chat grinned and green eyes gleamed in the dim light she read by.</p><p>“I’m a master of stealth, Princess,” he purred. “It comes with the territory.” </p><p>She rolled her eyes extra hard this time and pushed his head off her chair by his nose. Suddenly, it seemed something had occurred to her, and she narrowed her eyes at him. He was soaked to the bone, and water dripped everywhere, dappled over the black leather and streaming like dense morning dew.</p><p>“You got my duvet all wet when you came in through the skylight, didn’t you.”</p><p>“...Maybe?”</p><p>Marinette sighed, going back to reading. In her peripheral vision, Chat was pouting, but she paid him no mind. She hunted the page for the sentence she’d lost track of. It was something about the girl -</p><p>Fwip.</p><p>Marinette started, tickled and surprised by her own hair suddenly swishing against her neck. Chat’s raised claw told her what had happened. She gave him a flat look. For Chat’s part, he looked her dead in the eye, and with a mischievous smirk -</p><p>Fwip Fwip.</p><p>He flipped her pigtails twice more, like a cat batting at a string. Marinette raised an eyebrow.</p><p>Fwip.</p><p>“Yes, chaton?” </p><p>Fwip.</p><p>“Chat.”</p><p>Fwip Fwip Fwip.</p><p>Marinette laughed fully. “Are you asking for attention, chaton? You’re a very needy cat today.”</p><p>Chat smiled at her reaction, but quickly smushed it and pulled the biggest kitten eyes she’d ever seen, and all of a sudden he threw himself into her lap. In an attempt to save the book from the water all over him, which was running off his sodden gold hair in beads even now, she hurriedly raised it above her head with an exclamation.</p><p>“My princess has abandoned her loyal cat,” he lamented, throwing a scathing look at her novel. “For a book.” He threw an arm over his eyes for further drama. </p><p>“Your cat needs affection to survive in this cruel, rainy world.” He peeked a single glowing eye from under the crook in his elbow, partially to see her face, and partially for comedic effect. Marinette pushed a breath through her nose, maybe a sigh and maybe a laugh. </p><p>“Chat, you’re getting me all wet! You almost ruined my favorite book!” She gestured to the threatened (and offending, in Chat’s opinion) novel. Her fluffy pajama bottoms and tank top were indeed covered in little droplets, and she could feel the cold seeping into her already, but Chat’s warmth was almost making up for it. Almost. He casted another glare at the innocent object.</p><p>“Serves it right.” he grumbled. In a stroke of genius, he plucked it from her hand (“Hey!”) and chucked it onto her bed across the room with surprising accuracy. Chat grinned toothily at Marinette, and she sighed in defeat, though she smiled.</p><p>“Alright, alright! I surrender. You’ve got my full attention.” </p><p>Jokingly, she reached out her hand and ran it through Chat’s wet hair as if petting a cat. He settled into her with a contented hum, and taking that as a ‘keep going’, she did. Some time passed this way, and Chat’s warmth really was making up for the dampness. If she flicked his ears, his nose and the offended appendage twitched. If she stopped, his tail would lash, and she’d be met with big green eyes pleading for her to stop being so cruel, as if she’d just thrown him into the rain.</p><p>Puurrrrrrrrrrrr -</p><p>“...Oh my God.”</p><p>“You can purr like a cat!”</p><p>“...No I can’t.”</p><p>She scratched behind his right ear and the effect was instantaneous.</p><p>Puurrrr -</p><p>“YOU CAN!”</p><p>“NUH UH.”</p><p>Purrr -</p><p>“Nooooo, no I can’t, Marinette stooop -”</p><p>“Oh my gosh, Chat Noir, you are never ever in all of your nine lives going to live this down.”</p><p>“...I know.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>This one is romantic</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Marinette sat hunched over her desk, thoroughly absorbed in her next project. Distantly, she leaned backwards in an attempt to soothe the ache in her back from holding such a position for so very long. She cast her gaze about the cozy room, spying Tikki cuddled up in a tiny... well, it was a bed of sorts, under a large, leafy plant she’d brought inside on request of the kwamii for this exact purpose.  Seeing her small friend in such a contented state brought a smile to her face.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Unfortunately, even after her bout of stretching, her back continued to protest rather loudly at it's abuse, and sighing at the tiny twinge behind her shoulder blades and at the base of her spine, Marinette returned to her project.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Only the thing was, Marinette didn't yet know what shape her project would take. Most times, her sewing was the product of well-thought out designs, sketched and re-done to her liking before she actually went about making them a reality. But every once in awhile, when she was swept up in a mood of creativity and she had scraps of cloth to spare, she let her fingers work as they pleased, figuring things out as she went - or not, letting her mind wander as her fingers did, which was the course she seemed to choose this evening. Said course sometimes created something that could be given the title of “something” - meaning anything with a shape that wasn't a random mass of thread and cloth and stuffing - and sometimes not, but either way, the familiarity of the act was soothing, despite the pricks in her fingers.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And so, as it often did, her mind drifted into thoughts of eyes a brilliant,  oh-so-familiar green. What wasn't so commonplace (though just as - <em>or more,</em> she considered for a moment - familiar) were the accompanying swaths of black leather, infuriating little smirks, and of course, the fact that those familiar eyes were framed by a mask and did not belong to one Adrien Agreste. Adrien, whose presence in her head would both be more welcome and easier to explain to herself. No, the certain black cat who had taken up residence in said mind, really, had no business in there at all.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>No, Chat Noir indeed had no business at all, pacing up and down the corridors of her cranium with every bit the lithe grace of his namesake. No business at all grinning that Cheshire grin at her from her memory,  as if he somehow knew she was dwelling on him against her will and he was could barely contain his smug mirth...No business making her wonder how much control he had over those faux appendages of his, whether his ears would twitch if she ran her hand through his (rather soft looking) hair...<em>Certainly, </em>no business <em>at all</em> drawing her attention to the delicate shape of his lips, the mischievous curve of them in that damnable (<em>damnable) </em>smirk of his, that absently she pondered what might feel like on her own mouth -</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>NOPE.</em>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>Marinette, face aflame, leaned all the way back in her chair, with a grating noise, staring roof-wards, project momentarily abandoned. She pointedly did not make any sort of facial expression.</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p><em>NOPE! nope nope nope, Marinette you were not just thinking about Chat Noir that way, because you are definitely not falling for that cat, one love is problematic enough!</em> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>A giggle sounded from her shelf - which could only be from Tikki - which could also mean that she'd said all that aloud. Knowing herself, she had.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Damn. That’s the third time I've been caught thinking about that cat this month.</em> Marinette groaned as a way of response, dragging her hands from her hair over her face in mortification. A wave of blue-black hair smothered her words and got  in her mouth: “Tikki,  I am not crushing on Chat Noir. This is not happening.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You're right Marinette,  you definitely aren't crushing on Chat Noir,” Tikki reassured from her perch - or so it seemed, and just as Marinette finished a sigh and had begun to wonder at the odd tone of the sprite, she tacked on - with gusto - “You're falling in love with him!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She gaped at the ancient being incredulously. “Wha- Tikki, no! It's not - I don't - Aargh!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The heroine leaned forward once more, although much farther forward,  and plopped her face into her hands, as if the smother the panicking flames in her cheeks. Tikki laughed again, though she was gentler in her words this time - but still just as honest.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Marinette, you can't deny it, not to me at least; the way you've been looking at him lately when he won't notice on patrols, or the way you secretly think it's kinda funny when he says something you would’ve just rolled your eyes at before,” She grinned cheekily, and went to hover near her chosen’s shoulder. “I am still <em>there</em> when you're Ladybug,  you know.  I'm aware of what goes on.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There was a strangled sound, presumably from Marinette, muffled by her hands. “But Tikki, I <em>can't </em>love Chat! He's my partner - my best friend besides Alya, I would even say - but it's not like that!” She moaned.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Why not?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Marinette lifted her head from it's cradle. Her brow wrinkled in confusion. There was a pause.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Why not what?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tikki rolled her eyes affectionately. <em>Oh, Marinette. </em>“Why can't you love him, Mari?” She asked gently. The girl began to speak, but the little being continued.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Loving him wouldn't change anything about being partners or best friends - he loves you, you know he does and I know you know! - and you’re still this close, so why would it just up and stop if you felt the same?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She paused, and Tikki waited patiently. The sprite’s form of argument was a tiny bit abrasive, yes,  but Marinette needed a nudge in the right direction. Oh, if she knew who she were calling a silly kitten and bantering (totally flirting) with on rooftops <em>and falling for a second time! </em>But no - it would mean more if Tikki let them do this naturally. Just a nudge would be enough. She smiled to herself - even if it was, admittedly, a bit of a mischievous smile (<em>Plagg is rubbing off on me a little, I think, </em>she snickered. <em>Oh, well; it was bound to happen sometime these few thousand years.</em>).</p>
<p> </p>
<p>After a long moment,  Marinette's mouth opened to speak...and promptly closed again. “...I...I don't know, Tikki. What about - what about Adrien? I know that I love him, so how could I even <em>like</em> Chat? Is...is that a sort of.. a betrayal?” she both questioned and answered tentatively.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tikki let out a soft exhale, partially in sympathy for Marinette's feelings and partially to stop herself from giggling at the irony. <em>Oh, oh the irony.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p> “You aren't actually <em>dating</em> Adrien, even if you'd really like to, so being interested in Chat can't hurt, yes?” she offered gently, and she saw some of the girl's affliction fade.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Marinette, I understand that you're conflicted, but just because you feel that way about Adrien doesn't make your feelings for Chat any less valid,” The kwami almost grinned, but Tikki held herself. “And do you know what that means?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> Marinette's brow creased once more, though now in curiosity. An onlooker would be surprised that something so small could smile so widely:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You're falling in love with him!”.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“AAAAGHHH!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tikki giggled heartily at the sound, as well as Marinette having to explain the sound of distress to her rather concerned mother  (“Marinette? What was that shrieking for, did you hurt yourself again? Is everything alright?” “Uh, yeah, mom, just clumsy ol’ me! Sewed right through my finger again.Heh-” “Oh, honey! Do you need stitches? I’ll come right -” “No! No no, no, fine! Totally fine!”), floating happily back to her spot on the shelf (hehe, spot) to lounge against her plant. Marinette huffed in frustration.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>I am most certainly not falling for Chat, </em>she thought resolutely, even with a firm shake of her head, as if to rid herself of the the notion, and turned back to her long-forgotten project.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>...And promptly was gobsmacked.  </p>
<p> </p>
<p>There, on her desk, while unfinished, sat a little black cat shaped pillow with telling green button eyes that would have been cute, had her fingers not betrayed her in creating it in the midst of her day (night? It was dark outside now) dreaming.  </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>Oh, god, I'm falling for Chat Noir.</em>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>The sound of a heavy thump and faint groaning met Tikki’s tiny ears, and she smirked. <em>The cat is</em> definitely <em>in the bag - or at least Mari’s heart.</em> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>She rolled her eyes behind closed lids from her cozy niche. <em>I'm making puns. Plagg really is rubbing off on me - that or his Chat. </em>She smiled fondly. <em>Silly cats.</em></p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Yeet back to writing what i want to see in star trek</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I don't even read for this fandom anymore. I just figured since, judging by the flames and screaming in the distance, somebody might like a little old-style chat-shows-up-in-marinette's-bedroom-unannounced fluff. The current evens of Miraculous Ladybug hang in the corners of my internet presence like a lovecraftian giant passing overhead. I only know enough details to know  I don't like them.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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